Blindsided
by Kotodashi Kyoshi
Summary: It took Draco a few moments to realize that he could see her face clearly, signaling that his eyesight was back, and even though it had only been mere months he felt like he was seeing her clearly for the first time in years.


**Author's Note:** Just a little one shot in a list of one shots that have been floating around my head. Takes place during the war, which didn't end at the school, but instead severely damaged Voldemort's side.

 **Disclaimer:** Nothing in this beautiful world of Harry Potter is mine.

* * *

 **Week two**

Hermione sighed as she arranged tea cups on a tray. It had been two weeks since she had been left alone in a safe house with a very upset and a very blind Draco Malfoy, and it was starting to take its toll on her.

She looked out the window, into the small garden where he sat on a bench. It was what he had been doing for the better part of the last two weeks. Neither one of them had been thrilled to be paired together, alone for that matter, while the rest of the Order was stationed at Grimmauld Place. But the Malfoy's had to be vetted, like the rest of the defectors had been, before they could join the Order on missions against the dark side.

It was Lucius who had come to them, surprisingly. It seemed that after Harry had wounded Voldemort, Bellatrix had taken it upon herself to take charge in his place and the first thing she had done was take out her rage on Draco, leaving him blind. It had been quick and unexpected, and apparently it would wear off eventually, but it had been Lucius' undoing. He had quickly taken Draco and Narcissa from the Manor and somehow found a way to contact the Order about defecting.

The Order had been skeptic, of course, but it wasn't as if they were the first surprise in a long list of surprise defectors over the last few months. They had interrogated them for three days straight, before separating them and sending them to different safe houses. Narcissa had been sent to stay with Andromeda, and Lucius had been sent to stay with the Weasley's, much to his chagrin.

Draco had been sent to stay with her, because of his injury. She was their top healer and had turned out to be the best one to vet the defecting death eaters that were around their age. Harry and Ron hadn't been able to keep their tempers under control, and had ended up almost injuring Blaise Zabini when he had first come to them. So now they were sent to her, and until Draco was fully recovered and she felt like she could trust him, they were stuck together in a small house in the Forest of Dean protected by spells and enchantments so that they couldn't be found.

Draco had been very quiet over the past two weeks, not speaking much to her at all. She hadn't really tried much to talk to him either, finding this particular defection hard to handle. Draco had always been so mean to her in school, and all of that seemed so menial now, but she couldn't just forget and now they had been thrown together for her to be his literal slave because he couldn't do anything for himself. It was always where he told her she should be, underneath him. It bothered her to no end, but she knew it had to be done, and that perhaps in a surprising twist of fate the Malfoy's could greatly aid in the demise of Voldemort.

She brought the tray out to the garden and cleared her throat so that Draco could hear her coming, and he turned his head slightly to let her know that he had heard her. Setting the tray down, she poured him a cup of tea and nudged his hands to the cup.

"Thank you," he murmured gruffly.

"You're welcome," she said, pouring her own cup and taking a seat on the bench next to him.

"I'm going to be working in the garden for most of the day, harvesting herbs to get ready to make more healing potions. If you need me, just call out for me," she surveyed the small garden, wondering where it would be best to first start.

Draco was silent for a while before turning his body towards her, "I'm tired of sitting around this bloody house with nothing to do."

Hermione had gotten used to this attitude from him, always complaining about something, making it very obvious that he was not happy to be stuck there with her, but she just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Perhaps I could help today..." he said softly.

She turned to look at him, eyes wide, and responded with a simple, "ok."

* * *

 **Week four**

Hermione tried to hold back a laugh as she watched Draco, who had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and was on his knees in the garden, feeling around for the herb that was off to the side of him.

He stopped what he was doing and furrowed his brow at her, turning towards her direction. She froze, hand covering her mouth, watching as he _listened_ in her direction with his cloudy eyes searching around.

"I can hear you, Granger. Why don't you actually come over here and help me instead of watching me fail miserably?"

She dropped her hand from her mouth and went to kneel down next to him, nudging his hands towards the herb. "You have to admit, Malfoy, this is slightly comical."

He frowned, "there is nothing funny about this, Granger."

She sighed and rocked back onto her feet and moved to stand, rocking back a little too far and falling over into the dirt. She lay there, shocked for a moment before she heard a stifled laugh coming from Draco.

"Now _that_ is comical, if I could have only seen it," he murmured.

She rolled her eyes and moved to get up again, flicking a little dirt towards him as she stood. As she turned to go back into the house she could have sworn she saw him smirk.

* * *

 **Week six**

Draco sat in front of the fireplace, staring with his unseeing eyes into the flames. He missed his Mother and wondered if she was ok. He hadn't been told where she was going to be, he hadn't been told anything other than he was stuck with Granger until she deemed him fit to help with the Order's missions.

He had been absolutely horrified to hear that he was going to be stuck with the know-it-all bookworm. He had been awful to the trio for years, but particularly awful to her. He was certain that she was going to make his life a living hell, but he had yet to see a spiteful side of her. She'd actually been nothing but helpful and civil and he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It would be too easy for her, with him not being able to see at all, but she always made sure he had everything he needed and that he took his healing potions when he was supposed to.

It was confusing for him, for her to treat him so cordially, or maybe she was just doing her job. He couldn't tell because he had never been on the receiving end of one of the smiles she saved for her friends, or the nice gestures she did for the people she liked.

She had been brewing potions in her makeshift lab all day, out on the other side of the garden, leaving him to his thoughts and not much else to do. It was raining outside and while he still could have worked out there with a few simple spells and charms, she had said that the less wand magic they used the better.

He heard the door open, then relaxed when he heard her call out to him to let him know it was her and not someone else. He tried to ignore the feeling he got when he knew she was in for the night and he didn't have to be alone in the house anymore.

He kept telling himself it was because she was the only company around, and he would go mad if he ignored her, choosing to be completely alone.

But deep down he knew it was something else stirring inside of him.

* * *

 **Week ten**

Hermione watched him plant new herbs in the garden as she finished making them sandwiches for lunch. He was starting to figure out how to use his other senses besides his sight to do other things besides harvest the herbs and she felt particularly happy about that.

She liked that he was no longer moping around, and that he was choosing to do something about his situation. He was even being friendly towards her, accepting the situation that they were in.

She had decided that she liked friendly Draco. He was actually very intelligent, and she enjoyed having conversations with him about various subjects. She found herself wishing sometimes that they had been friends in school, then maybe things would have turned out differently.

He missed his Mother, and she was starting to feel bad for him, so she had sent out her patronus to Andromeda for an update on how Narcissa was doing. An owl came a few hours later with two letters, one from Andromeda to her and one from Narcissa to Draco.

After she had been assured in Andromeda's letter that Narcissa was to be trusted, she set the letter on the tray and walked out into the garden.

"Lunch time already?" he asked.

"Yea, lunch time. Listen, Draco," she sighed, "I know you've been missing your Mother, so I had a talk with the secret keeper where she's staying."

Draco tensed like he was expecting bad news and Hermione suddenly felt horrible for making it sound that way, "everything is ok! She misses you too, she wrote you a letter."

Draco scoffed, "cause I can read a letter right now."

"I could read it to you, if you wanted," she offered.

He was quiet for a few moments before nodding slightly. She picked up the letter and unfolded it, taking a deep breath.

 _"My Dearest Draco,_

 _I am hoping you are well. Andromeda said that Miss Granger has reported that you still have not gotten your eyesight back, be patient My Dragon, it will return eventually. I've been told that I'm to be moved to the Order's headquarters in the following weeks, it's been wonderful being here with Andromeda and Teddy, I only wish that I could have gotten to know Nymphadora before her untimely death._

 _I do miss you so, I long for the day when we are all reunited again. I know that we should not be communicating at all, but Miss Granger said that you could use some cheering up. She seems like a nice girl, I hope you aren't being too hard on her._

 _I love you always"_

Hermione looked up to find Draco's cloudy eyes looking directly at her. She sucked in her breath in surprise before he smirked at her.

"You added that bit about you being a nice girl didn't you?"

She looked at him in shock for a moment before playfully slapping him on the shoulder, "no I didn't! I'll save it so that when you do get your sight back you can read it for yourself! You prat!"

He smirked at her as she smacked his shoulder again, before handing him a sandwich off of the tray.

He couldn't see that she was smiling as she was shaking her head.

* * *

 **Week fourteen**

"Granger! Granger, get in here!" Draco yelled at her from his bedroom.

Hermione ran in from the garden and rushed into his room to see him standing in front of the mirror on the vanity. "What is it?! What's wrong?!"

"I can see! It's all just blurry images and colors but I can see!"

Hermione smiled and walked into the room a little further, "that's wonderful! I'm sure your sight will return in no time at all!"

There was a genuine smile on Draco's face as he turned to face her, "does this mean I can join my Mother?"

Hermione's smile faltered and she looked down at the ground, "we will see, Malfoy."

She noticed the smile slipped a little from his face and she felt bad, but she wasn't sure if he was ready to go to Grimmauld Place.

"Right, well c'mon then, let's finish planting the herbs for today," he said, walking past her.

* * *

 **Week sixteen**

"Hogwarts: A History," Draco read the title of the book that Hermione was holding.

They were sitting in font of the fireplace after dinner and she was helping him exercise his eyes. His eyesight was improving but things were still blurry, she had insisted that exercises like this would help his eyes get better faster.

"Correct, now how about this one?" she held up another book.

"Defensive Magical Theory," he blinked his eyes a few times and squinted.

"Alright, now one more," she held up the last book in the pile.

Draco moved forward a bit but Hermione leaned back, "no cheating!"

He frowned at her but moved back again and refocused his eyes, after a few moments he shook his head, "I don't know, something about afflictions."

"Close, it's Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions. Let's give your eyes a rest for tonight," she moved to put the books back on the shelf.

He watched her blurry figure move to a cabinet and grab something out of it. When she came back to sit on the couch she handed him a glass, and opened what he assumed was a bottle.

She poured a little in each glass before clinking them together, "cheers to another day of making your sight better."

He gave her a funny look before bringing the glass to his lips and taking a sip, surprised to find that it was fire whiskey. "Fire whiskey, Granger? I didn't think you knew how to have fun," he smirked at her.

"Believe it or not we Gryffindors have been known to throw a good party or two," she joked.

"Oh I believe that outta Potter and Weasley, just wasn't expecting this outta you," he gestured to the glass.

She rolled her eyes and sniffed, pouring them both another drink, "of course no one would expect the bookworm to appreciate a good drink."

"I didn't mean it like that, Granger," he said softly.

"Yes you did, but it's ok. Harry and Ron used to treat me the same way, before the war made us all child soldiers and it wasn't so surprising anymore."

Draco wished he could see her face clearly, not liking that their conversation had made her sound sad. That thought unnerved him, that he was having any kind of feelings towards her, let alone these kinds of feelings.

"Have you heard from them?" he asked after a few moments of silence had passed.

She shook her head no, before clearing her throat, "no I haven't. I don't know where they are, or what they're doing." She looked into the fire and felt tears stinging her eyes, "I know that if something bad happens, someone will notify me. But it's hard, not being there with them."

She wiped at her tears and took a deep breath, "eventually we will re-join everyone at headquarters though, and I'll continue brewing healing potions there until I have to come back here again."

Draco didn't know why he felt the need to bring up the red headed weasel but he found himself speaking before he could stop himself, "I'm sure you'll be happy to get back to Weaselbee."

Hermione looked at him in confusion, "of course I'll be happy to see Ronald, and Harry, and everyone else in the Order. Just like you'll be happy to see your Mother."

Draco scoffed, "not happy in the same way you will be to see your boyfriend."

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face as she looked at him, he was staring into the fire with a frown. She blinked a few times before shaking her head speaking more to herself, "you're talking about Ron."

Draco looked at her and opened his mouth to say something before she interrupted him, "Ron isn't my boyfriend."

Draco felt a little flutter in his chest and he wanted to swat it away. He stumbled in his mind for something to say but all he could come up with was, "oh."

* * *

 **Week twenty**

Draco awoke to screams and someone shaking him awake. It took him a moment to realize that the screams were coming from him. He shot up in the bed, as Hermione sat down on the edge, her hand still on his shoulder.

"It's ok, Malfoy. You were just having a bad dream, that's all."

He took a few deep breaths before looking into her eyes, his sight was still slightly blurry but should be cleared up any day now. She looked genuinely worried for him and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," his voice was low and husky and his breath caught when she smiled at him.

"It's ok, I get them too. I'll make you some tea."

She moved to get up off the bed and without thinking he reached out and grabbed her hand. She looked down at where he was touching her then back to his face.

"Don't leave. Will you just…will you just stay here?" he looked down at the bed, unable to look her in the eyes. He felt stupid for asking, and was about to tell her to just forget it when he felt the side of the bed sink in again from her sitting down.

"I'll stay until you fall asleep again."

When Draco woke in the morning the first thing he saw was Hermione's still sleeping face, inches from his own. He took in every detail from her thick lashes to every freckle, the honey colored highlights in her hair that had transformed into soft curls that he wanted to reach out and touch.

It took him a few moments to realize that he could see her clearly, that his eyesight was back, and even though it had only been mere months he felt like he was seeing her clearly for the first time in years.

* * *

 **Week twenty three**

Hermione had received a letter that morning, one telling her that her boys were out on a mission. A mission that she desperately wanted to be a part of, or at least be at Grimmauld Place when they arrived back.

She'd been on edge all day and Draco was worried, she was obviously upset. He hadn't seen her like this the entire time they had been stuck in this house, so he knew that the mission that Potter and Weasley were on had to be big. It was easy to forget that there was a war going on outside of the house, but today was a harsh reminder of what was happening outside of their garden sanctuary.

He walked up behind where she was kneeling in the garden, just staring at the ground. He put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped a little, before looking up at him. "I'm sorry I'm no help today, I'm just really…"

"Worried. I know, it's ok, Granger."

She gave him a small smile of thanks, before jumping at the sound of the front door to the house being thrown open. She stood quickly, and ran into the house, with Draco right at her heel.

Harry and Ron had come through the door, covered in dirt and bruises and blood. Hermione rushed forward and gave them each a hug, leaving Draco to stand there awkwardly.

"We couldn't go back to Grimmauld Place, we had Death Eaters right on our tail. We lost them in the forest finally once we were inside the wards, they thought we apparated away again after we led them on a goose chase of a few different apparitions, the three of us-" Harry stopped short when he saw the look on Hermione's face.

Draco looked from Harry to Hermione to find that she had gone pale. "Three of you?" she whispered.

Ron looked down at the ground, suddenly interested in his feet, while Harry looked like he was struggling to find the words to say. Draco raised an eyebrow, wondering who Hermione was so worried about.

"Where is he?" she asked, her voice so quiet that Draco barely heard her.

Neither Harry or Ron had anything to say, and after about five whole seconds Hermione lost it. She lurched forward and started hitting Harry in the chest with half hearted attempts at hurting him, while sobbing. Draco was thoroughly confused now, but found that he couldn't say or do anything but watch the scene in front of him as Ron moved forward and tried to remove Hermione from Harry.

"Listen, we did the best that we could, he could have easily gotten back to Grimmauld Place we just got separated," Ron explained.

She turned into him and sobbed harder, lifting her fists to hit his chest, "you promised me! You both promised me you would look out for him!"

"Hermione," a soft voice came from the doorway.

Draco's ears perked up, he knew that voice. Hermione stopped hitting Ron and her attention was drawn towards the door. Draco felt like everything was moving in slow motion as he turned his head to find his former best friend, former Slytherin Theodore Nott standing there in the doorway. His black hair was sticking up, stiff with blood and half of his face was covered in more of it while the other was covered in bruises. If he didn't know that Draco had defected, he showed no surprise, barely glancing at him before setting his stare back on Hermione.

"Theo," she breathed. She rushed past the boys and launched herself into Theo's arms, hugging him close to her.

"I thought you were-"

"Shh," Theo shushed her, "I'm ok, 'Mione. I'm ok." He took her face into her hands and kissed her.

Draco felt like he was going to be sick.

* * *

 **That night**

Draco stared into the fire, not sure how to process what he was feeling. He had found out that one of his former best friends was a defector, a friend that he thought had been dead for over a year. Not only was Theo alive, but he had been in a relationship with Granger going back to their sixth year. Back when they were friends, back when they shared everything, and he had never once brought up Granger to him.

Of course Draco had played the part of a new Death Eater well, and perhaps that's why Theo had never told him. Theo had been killed, or so he thought, not long after the incident on the Astronomy Tower. But it turned out it was all orchestrated by the Order and he had been part of the resistance ever since, not just to be a part of the light side, but for Granger.

He still felt sick, the feelings that had been residing in him towards her were still there, just under the surface, and he had actually thought that perhaps he had a chance with her. After finding out that she wasn't dating the Weasel, she had never mentioned seeing anyone else, and their growing friendship had been getting better. She had spent the night in his bed for Merlin's sake, he briefly wondered how Theo would feel about that.

His thoughts were interrupted by the object of them coming into the living room, holding two cups of tea. He was so lost in his musings that he hadn't even heard her come downstairs, let alone make tea in the kitchen.

His breath hitched when he realized that she was wearing a pair of sleep shorts that were barely visible underneath a sleep shirt that was too large for her, a sleep shirt that had Theo's initials stitched into the breast pocket. He averted his eyes as she came nearer, handing him a cup of tea.

"You should be sleeping," she said.

"I can't sleep," his voice came out weaker than he wanted it to.

She looked over at him as she sipped her tea, "I know it must be strange for you, to find out that he's been alive this entire time, but that's what all of this is for you know," she gestured to the house, "everyone's protection."

"How did it happen?" he asked.

"He went to Dumbledore and-"

"That's not what I mean," he interrupted.

She looked at him strangely for a moment before realization dawned on her, "you mean Theo and I."

He nodded and she sighed, setting her tea down on the coffee table in front of them. "I know it must be weird for you, Theo and I, but I assure you, Malfoy I _am_ good enough for him."

"Is that what you think I'm implying, Granger?! Hasn't anything changed for you in these past few months? Because it sure as hell has for me! I wasn't questioning you being good enough for him, I _know_ you are. I just can't wrap my head around it, you and him, I don't understand it."

She shook her head, "I don't know, it just happened. We were paired in Advanced Arithmancy for a project and it just kind of went from there. We became friends, and one night we became more than that," she paused and gave a short laugh. "It's ironic really, neither one of us even saw it coming," she looked up at him. "I guess you could say we were blindsided."

He frowned at her, "is that supposed to be funny?"

"Oh come on, it's kind of funny."

"Not really," he shook his head. They were both silent for a while before she turned from the flames to look at him again.

"Are we going to be able to make this work…Malfoy?" she asked.

He thought about her question for a while before turning to look at her, "it's Draco."

She just stared at him for a moment before she smiled, "then you have to call me Hermione."

He nodded, and she stood up, stretching and revealing more skin on her tan legs. "Goodnight, Draco."

"Goodnight," he listened to her soft footsteps walk away. He didn't hear her go up the stairs where her room was, but still heard a door open and close, meaning she had gone back into the room where Theo was staying.

He sighed and got up, heading to his own bedroom. He was puzzled by what she meant when she asked if they could make it work. Did she mean a friendship? Did she mean more than that? What was it she was expecting out of him? He went over every possibility, staring at the ceiling as he lay in his bed.

What seemed like hours later, he laughed to himself. The way he felt about Hermione, it happened the same way it seemed her and Theo happened.

He really had been blindsided.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Please review :)


End file.
